The Weakley Film News 3-16-2018

In this week’s “Now THESE are actors” story, Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen are to star as leads in New Line’s new drama, The Good Liar.

The film will be directed by Bill Condon, who most recently helmed Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Condon will also produce with Greg Yolen.

Jack Morrissey and Bron Creative’s Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth are executive producing. Mr. Holmes writer Jeffrey Hatcher wrote the screenplay for The Good Liar, based on the novel by Nicholas Searle.

“The Good Liar” is a reunion for Condon and McKellen, who previously collaborated on Gods and Monsters and Mr. Holmes. Condon won an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for Gods and Monsters, while McKellen was nominated for best actor.

McKellen will portray a career con artist who can hardly believe his luck when he meets a well-to-do widow, played by Mirren. As she opens her home and life to him, he is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.

Uh, well, seeing as Black Panther has taken in over a billion dollars already, it’s a fair bet that was going to happen.

In this week’s “Teen Titans GO! – with Nic Cage!” Story, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, a new animated film featuring everyone’s favorite teen superheroes engaging in some fart jokes, won’t just feature the Teen Titans – adult superheroes will be popping up in the movie as well. And best of all: Nicolas Cage will play Superman. Cage and two others have joined the Teen Titans movie cast.

Nicolas Cage will finally have a chance to play the Man of Steel. Cage almost took on the role of Superman for director Tim Burton in the Kevin Smith-scripted Superman Lives, but production troubles prevented the film from ever getting off the ground.

USA Today reports Cage has joined the cast, along with singer/songwriter Halsey, who will be voicing Wonder Woman, and rapper Lil Yachty will voice Green Lantern. While the film primarily focuses on the young members of the Teen Titans – Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven and Starfire – some adult heroes will pop up as well.

DC’s live-action movies have succumbed to doom and gloom lately, but Teen Titans Go to the Movies might reverse all that. The candy-colored animated flick is geared toward a younger audience, and looks to make light of all the cinematic superhero darkness we’ve come to expect.

Yay! Teen Titans!

In this week’s “Captain Spaulding returns?” story, news has been confirmed that Rob Zombie is now shooting his sequel to The Devil’s Rejects.

Zombie himself has confirmed that the sequel, The Devil’s Rejects 2: 3 From Hell, is underway. Gotta wonder if that title means there’s going to be some kind of supernatural twist. Guess we’ll find out.

In this week’s “Just stop it!” story, remakes, reboots and revivals, oh my! And to add to that long, growing, irritating list, is a possible reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Over 20 years later, “Buffy” still means a lot to its fans, and the good news for those who might be nervous about the possibility of a revival happening is that according to Newman, it would depend entirely on Whedon coming to 20th Century Fox with an idea.

I say ‘nope’. I get that it would be a Joss Whedon project and all, and that’s good, but do we really need to revisit that show? Could it ever be as good as it’s original run? Was it also a product of it’s time? I don’t know, it’s a pretty complicated idea. I just think it’s best left alone.

In this week’s “Wait, what now?” story, Pitbull is joining STX’s UglyDolls franchise, based on the pop culture UglyDolls characters.

Yes, that’s right, those fun plush dolls are being developed into an animated film franchise and Pitbull (born Armando Christian Perez) will both write and perform a song AND voice one of the key characters in the film. Stx is also eyeing Pitbull for spinoff UglyDoll projects now in development at STXtv, STXdigital and STXsurreal VR.

The Miami-born rapper, also known as “Mr. Worldwide,” has notched No. 1 hits in more than 15 countries, including “Give Me Everything” and “Timber,” which both topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In all, Pitbull has sold 70 million singles and six million albums and has amassed more than 10 billion music video views on YouTube and VEVO.

“Pitbull’s amazing musical creativity and magnetic personality have captivated millions of adoring fans around the world. We’re thrilled to collaborate with him, and look forward to showcasing his singular talent as we build the UglyDolls franchise,” Adam Fogelson, chairman of STXfilms, said Tuesday in a statement.

The UglyDolls movie will see the characters confront what it means to be different and struggle with their desire to be loved — and ultimately discover they don’t have to be perfect to be amazing.

STXfilms will release UglyDolls in 2019 as a launch vehicle for the franchise.

Ok, whatever.

In this week’s “Based on a true story” story, Kristen Stewart is set to play iconic actress Jean Seberg in Against All Enemies, a hot and timely package that’s come together with an all-star cast. A political thriller directed by Benedict Andrews (Una), the story is inspired by true events about the Breathless pixie who in the late 1960s was targeted by the illegal FBI surveillance program COINTELPRO. Fred Berger (La La Land) and Brian

Kavanaugh-Jones of Automatik are producing alongside Kate Garwood and Stephen Hopkins, as well as Andrew Levitas of Metalwork Pictures. Memento Films International is handling offshore sales. UTA and Endeavor Content are repping North America.

Also starring are Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie, Margaret Qualley and Colm Meaney. The original script is by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse (The Aftermath, Edge Of Tomorrow 2). The film will shoot this summer.

Seberg, an American actress who spent half her life in France, was a darling of the French New Wave. Because of her political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal (Mackie), she was also a target of the FBI’s attempts to disrupt, discredit and expose the Black Power movement. O’Connell plays the ambitious young FBI agent assigned to surveil her, only to find their fates dangerously interwoven.

Stewart has herself become a darling in France where she has starred in two films by lauded director Olivier Assayas. The Twilight saga alum is the only American actress ever to win a César Award, the country’s equivalent to the Oscar. She scooped that trophy for Assayas’ 2014 Cannes pic Clouds Of Sils Maria. Stewart is repped by Gersh.

In this week’s “Big name director” story, Sony is still trying to make use of all the Marvel properties they have while they can. With Venom coming in November of this year starring Tom Hardy, and Gina Prince-Bythewood is in line to direct the female-fronted Silver & Black, based on the Silver Sable and Black Cat comics. Now, however, Sony is aiming incredibly high as That Hashtag Show broke the news that none other than Spike Lee is circling the director’s chair on a Nightwatch movie, with THR (The Hollywood Reporter) confirming.

Sony’s Marvel properties are all connected to Spider-Man, as that’s the main character and IP that Sony still owns, and Nightwatch first appeared in a 1993 issue of Web of Spider-Man. The character is otherwise known as Doctor Kevin Trench, a man who witnessed a costumed crusader die battling terrorists, only to unmask the corpse to learn that it was an older version of himself. A time-travel story ensues.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Lee’s involvement in a Nightwatch movie is incredibly early so there’s no guarantee this deal actually makes, but if he does sign on to direct he’d be working from a script by Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari

Coker and telling the story of an African-American superhero scientist.

In this week’s “Words are for suckers” story, Fans of Star Wars: The Last Jedi buying the movie for home use will get access to a never-before-seen version. Both digital and physical purchases will unlock access to a cut of the movie where the only audio is John Williams’ score.

The music-only edit was revealed on Twitter by Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, who called it his favorite (“kinda hidden”) special feature. There is a catch, however; to access it, customers will have to sign up for the Movies Anywhere app, the Disney-backed digital movie aggregator that is the exclusive home for the score-only Last Jedi.

Fargo and Legion creator Noah Hawley is directing from a script by Brian C. Brown and Elliott DiGuiseppi. Reese Witherspoon, who was attached to star at one point, will produce with Bruna Papandrea.

Pale Blue Dot follows a successful female astronaut who, after coming back home from a mission in space, starts to unravel when confronted by her seemingly perfect life. The film explores the theory that astronauts who spend long periods of time in space lose their sense of reality when they return home.

Hamm will play Portman’s fellow astronaut who she aggressively pursues after returning to Earth.

With Legion wrapped and Hawley’s other FX series, Fargo, not shooting until next year, production on Pale Blue Dot is expected to start in the spring.

In this week’s “Make it stop!” story, for some reason, it seems that Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth are working on a new TV show based on the FOX series, Beverly Hills, 90210. Why this is happening at all is beyond me.

From Aaron Spelling, the teen drama followed a group of friends living in the upscale community of Beverly Hills, California. The cast included Spelling, Garth, Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, and Luke Perry.

Beverly Hills, 90210 initially ran from 1990 to 2000 on FOX before being rebooted by The CW as 90210 in 2008. Now, it looks like there may be another revival.

Along with CBS, Garth and Spelling are reportedly developing a new series based on Beverly Hills, 90210 though few details have been released.

The actor and filmmaker is set to direct the sci-fi movie Michael Zero, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The film from Millennium Media and Eclectic Pictures has an interesting premise, courtesy of a spec script from screenwriter Adam Alleca. It centers on a man who has to hunt down clones of himself who have gone AWOL from a war they were made to fight in and instead have set their sights on the corporate state that created them.

This sounds cool to me.

As an actor, Nelson has enjoyed numerous roles in such films as O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Syriana and Lincoln. He’s also delved into the sci-fi world before, with appearances in The Minority Report, The Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four. Nelson is next set to star in the Coen brothers’ Western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. As a director, his credits include 1997’s Eye of God, the 2001 Othello adaptation O, 2001’s The Grey Zone and 2015’s Anesthesia.

In this week’s “Well, what was YOUR imaginary friend like?” story, Thor: Ragnanrok director, Taika Waititi, will star in his upcoming movie Jojo Rabbit as an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler, Waititi told TheWrap.

Waititi’s Hitler is an imaginary friend to the protagonist, a 10-year-old boy who is desperate to join the dictator’s ranks during World War II. The film won’t include a sympathetic depiction of the actual Adolf Hitler — thankfully.

Rather, the imaginary Hitler in the film will be the invention of a boy who misses his dad, and, confused by Nazi propaganda, imagines a figure who is a combination of his father and the führer.

“It’s my version of… a lonely boy’s best version of his hero, which is really his dad,” Waititi told TheWrap on Wednesday.

“This is not the Adolf we know and hate, this guy is goofy, charming, and glides through life with a child- like naivety,” a character description obtained by TheWrap said.

Jojo, which is eyeing a late May production start, is poised to be one of the first Fox Searchlight releases under new owner Disney.

Fox Searchlight had no comment beyond the film’s current synopsis:

JOJO RABBIT, by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Hunt for the Wilderpeople), blends his signature humor, pathos, and deeply compelling characters in a World War II satire about a ten-year-old boy who, ridiculed by his peers and misunderstood by his mother, can’t quite figure out how to fit in. As the naïve young German struggles to understand his place in an increasingly Fascist regime, he resorts to an imaginary friend who can offer advice and help him cope.

Well, either way, I’m intrigued.

In this week’s “So, you ARE directing it?” story, Danny Boyle said he’d be “foolish” not to direct James Bond 25, and revealed that he is working on a script for the 25th installment of the Bond franchise.

“We are working on a script right now,” he told Metro. “And it all depends on that really. I am working on a Richard Curtis script at the moment. We hope to start shooting that in 6 or 7 weeks. Then Bond would be right at the end of the year. But we are working on them both right now.”

Boyle said John Hodge is currently working on the script. The duo previously worked on Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach and T2 Trainspotting together. A spokesperson for Hodge has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“We’ve got an idea, John Hodge, the screenwriter, and I have got this idea, and John is writing it at the moment. And it all depends on how it turns out. It would be foolish of me to give any of it away,” Boyle said.

Last month, it was reported that Boyle was high on the studio’s list to direct the next installment of the James Bond franchise, although he hasn’t been confirmed to direct.

In this week’s “Sure, why not? Everything else is rebooting” story, get ready for TV’s Cagny and Lacey to return to the screen.

CBS has found their new Cagney and Lacey. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sarah Drew and Michelle Hurd will star in the network’s series reboot pilot.

Based on the hit 1980s TV show, the action drama “centers on two female police detectives and friends who keep the streets of Los Angeles safe.” The original series starred Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless and ran on CBS from 1982 to 1988.

On CBS‘ pilot, Drew will play the easygoing Cagney to Hurd’s more experience and polished Lacey. Bridget Carpenter wrote the Cagney and Lacey reboot and executive producers with director Rosemary Rodriguez.

In this week’s “I said something about reboots…” story, Demian Bichir joins Andrea Riseborough in Sony’s new take on the horror classic The Grudge.

Nicolas Pesce is on board to direct from his own script.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions recently picked up worldwide rights to the film. SPWA, Ghost House, and Good Universe last collaborated on the hit thriller Don’t Breathe.

Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert will produce for Ghost House.

“We are so excited about this new adaptation,” Raimi said. “We went back to the original source material to deliver a relentless supernatural thrill ride that explores the horrors of American suburbia.”

The first film hit theaters in 2004 — a time when Hollywood was remaking numerous Japanese horror films, including The Ring. The original adaptation starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and went on to gross $187.3 million worldwide on a $10 million budget.

Sigh. So much rehashing…

In this week’s “New Gods, new directing blood” story, with her now being the first woman of color director of a $ 100 million plus movie (A Wrinkle In Time), Ava DuVernay is now closing a deal with Warner Bros and DC to direct a big-budget screen adaptation of The New Gods, the creation of revered comic book legend Jack Kirby. The studio has set Kario Salem (Chasing Mavericks) as the writer; he’ll craft the narrative and work closely with DuVernay.

This will be another $100M-plus film for DuVernay, who has taken quite a leap in scale since her breakout film Selma. She unveiled a New Gods connection late last year when she responded to a question on social media on who her favorite superhero is. “Big Barda. Many reasons” was her reply. Big Barda is one of the New Gods and the wife of Mister Miracle, also a Kirby creation.

This is a bold move for Warner Bros/DC and not just because this is the second superhero franchise they’ve handed to a female director after Patty Jenkins turned Wonder Woman into a crowd-pleasing blockbuster and is working on the sequel with Gal Gadot. Unlike recent DC fare, this is a freestanding world created and designed by Kirby back in 1971, not long after the prolific comic legend had exited Marvel.

There is no connection to the other DC worlds being exploited for film right now by Warner Bros, where studio boss Toby Emmerich and his newly installed DC production president Walter Hamada are moving forward with new approach to filmmakers on their DC-based fare.

The New Gods was the Genesis of the uber-villain Darkseid. Also called “Fourth World,” the Kirby creation debuted in a trilogy of related comics written and drawn by Kirby that were published in the very early 1970s: New Gods, Forever People and Mister Miracle. The New Gods came into existence after the world of the gods of classic mythology were destroyed during Ragnarok. The deities inhabit two planets: one is New Genesis, a lush paradise, and the other Apokolips, which sounds like Dante’s version of hell. War ensues. There is a rich universe of extraordinary characters for DuVernay to play with here.

Maybe DC will have something worthwhile to watch with this?

In this week’s “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson: Ruler of the Universe” story, Universal and Legendary have set a June 12, 2020 release date for Johnson’s Red Notice, an action-thriller the two companies picked up after a bidding war last month. So far, it has the date to itself.

The film is from director Rawson Marshall Thurber, the filmmaker behind Johnson’s Central Intelligence and upcoming Skyscraper. The Hollywood Reporter reported last month it has a proposed budget between $125 million and $150 million and sees Johnson’s salary cross $20 million for the first time.

Johnson plays an Interpol agent chasing after the most wanted art thief in the world.

Dwayne Johnson is unstoppable. It’s so weird to think that at one time, after making a couple goofy family films that sort of stalled his career, that I thought he might not become the big star I expected. Now I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t put a stop to him. 😉

And in this week’s “Mystery revelation” story, Jennifer Garner still has no idea what she was thinking when she made ‘that face’ at the 2018 Oscars.

The 45-year-old actress spoke about the famous look on the Mar. 16 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

For fans who missed the 90th Academy Awards, cameras caught Garner looking like she just realized something extremely important. She even stopped clapping and opened her mouth as if in awe. Twitter immediately turned the reaction into a meme, making jokes like “Jennifer Garner just realized she forgot to take the chicken out [of] the freezer.”

“I can’t even look at it. I can’t!” Garner said on Friday’s episode. “It’s too embarrassing.”

But when Ellen DeGeneres asked Garner why she made the facial expression, the 13 Going on 30 star had no idea.

“No, I wish I did,” she replied. “I wish I had a better story about it.”

Joking about the sporadic moment, she then added, “I mean, it could happen any minute,” and recreated the silly pose.

Looks like we’ll never know what went on in Garner’s head, and neither will she.

Author: Neil Weakley

Hi. I'm Neil. I didn't go to film school so I don't really have to justify any of my opinions about why I like a film or not. So there. But I worked in film for a number of years, so I have hands-on experience. That, and I've known Chris Mancini for, like, 25 years or so. It really is all who you know. :)
I'm mostly, but not exclusively, a fan of sci-fi, comic book movies, horror, comedies, and weird independent films. If you're an average movie-goer and want to know what another average movie-goer thinks without all the "feelm school" gobbley-gook, hop on over to www.comedyfilmnerds.com and look for me, Neil T. Weakley. I won't steer you wrong. Or follow me on Twitter @FilmNerdNeil.